There is a lot of excitement surrounding Star Wars’ latest live action Disney+ entry, The Acolyte. Premiering June 4, the series will be the first on-screen look at the High Republic era, which has been thoroughly examined in a series of recent novels. It is also the most diverse Star Wars project ever, and boasts an impressive cast including Amandla Stenberg, Lee Jung-jae, Carrie-Ann Moss, Manny Jacinto, Charlie Barnett, Dafne Keen, and Jodie Turner-Smith.

But there is another reason fans are eagerly anticipating the show, and that would be the brief glimpses at the action on display in the recently released trailer. With fight sequences clearly inspired by martial arts choreography, The Acolyte has fans dreaming of returning to what many consider to be the best lightsaber battle in franchise history — Darth Maul’s aerobatic engagement against Qui-Gon Jin and Obi-Wan Kenobi in The Phantom Menace. And if viewers are hoping the fights in The Acolyte can match or exceed that epic confrontation, they are not alone. It is a bar that the cast and crew talked openly and often about clearing.

Everett

“Yeah, that was a very frequent conversation we had,” Keen, who plays alien Jedi Jecki Lon, tells Entertainment Weekly. “It was very much: We want to top the Darth Maul fight — the most iconic fight, I think, in the Star Wars cinematic universe. It's such an amazing fight and we were all so excited about the saber fights. There's such a skill and a craft to it that it feels so OG Star Wars and feels so impressive when you see it as a viewer.”

Keen’s fondest memories on set involve having a lightsaber in her hand. “It was my favorite part of filming. I loved the whole training process of it. Everyone was very excited about it, which then made it much more fun. Our incredible stunt team created this kind of fusion of different martial arts and we were really trained in how to use the sabers. I feel very comfortable with a sword now, and I know that Charlie does too, and I know that JJ does too. We were all in there for hours a day training, and it was really fun to kind of explore also a different side to the characters within the fighting.”

Lucasfilm

And Keen says you see those different sides coming out through the moves they employ while in battle. “You can show a different aspect of your character. I feel like the way that JJ's character fights and the way that my character fights are completely different. And also with the way that Charlie's character fights. I found a lot of Jecki’s repressed parts of her within her fighting. They only came out in the fight scenes, and as someone who really enjoys doing stunts, getting to learn a new skill, it was just really just really fun and such a privilege.”

For the 19-year-old actress, using the Force brought her back to when she was younger and scouring the street for objects to help recreate what she had seen onscreen. “I remember watching Star Wars when I was a kid, then playing with sticks on the street and being like, ‘I have a saber!’ And now finally getting to learn these incredible choreographies that the stunt team put together was just honestly such a privilege, because we had such an amazing stunt team.”

Christian Black / Lucasfilm Ltd.

However, channeling her inner child’s enthusiasm did get Keen into a bit of trouble on set when she found herself making the famous lightsaber swooshing noises with her mouth during filming. “I got told off for doing that quite a lot. Because the first few times, you'd do it and they’d be like, ‘You need to stop doing that.’

That wasn’t Keen’s only problem. "And also, I kept smiling. I was so excited and they kept having to come up to me and be like, ‘Dafne, you need to stop smiling. You're fighting someone.’ And I'd be like, ‘Oh yeah, I'm sorry. This is just so fun. I love this.’”

If the show delivers on its goal of delivering some of the best lightsaber battles ever put on screen, fans won’t be able to stop smiling either.

Star Wars: The Acolyte premieres June 4 on Disney+.

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